Harley Benton SC-Junior Vintage Sunburst

Era da tanto tempo che volevo acquistare una Les Paul Junior Sc, però consideravo Gibson eccessiva nel prezzo, Epiphone con recensioni non tanto soddisfacenti e altri cloni difficilmente acquistabili. Quando ho letto che Harley Benton ha messo in produzione questo modello, ho letto recensioni e visto video, poi ho deciso di acquistare da Thomann per la prima volta. Servizio impeccabile con consegna anticipata, chitarra costruita benissimo senza alcun difetto, certificato di controllo qualità, chiave per regolazione truss rod (neanche In Gibson e' compresa!!!), meccaniche Wilkinson e pickup Roswell P90 Dog ear. Arrivata già settata ed intonata, attaccata al mio Vox Ac4, provata sia con suoni puliti che distorti, non ha deluso le mie aspettative, anzi pensando al prezzo vale più di quanto pagata. Nessun confronto con Brand più blasonati e costosi (ho Gibson e Fender), la chitarra valutata solo per quello che ti da a livello di divertimento e prestazioni merita una valutazione più che positiva.

Chitarra fantastica! Mi trovo sempre a mio agio con i prodotti Harley Benton! Meccaniche di serie Wilkinson Deluxe e P90 della Roswell dal suono a mio modesto parere fantastico! Dotazione originale che pone Harley Benton al di sopra di squirt. La chitarra è arrivata settata alla perfezione e non ho trovato il minimo difetto! In pochi giorni è diventata la mia chitarra preferita! Il P90 permette molte sfaccettature. Soddisfazione massima!!!

I bought this guitar because I wanted a 2nd sc junior. I have a 2005 Gibson Les Paul jr too and this guitar is really not far from the original. For the price I will say that this Harley Benton is absolutely 5 stars, but compared to the original I think I have to drop it to a 4. Out of the 2 I find Harley Benton is by far the best value for money.

This guitar looked just fantastic when I unboxed it. I checked it and could not find any imperfections at all. The finish is perfect.
It also came really well set up straight out of the box. I prefer my strings really low so I decided to lower them a bit anyway. The tuners of this guitar feels very cheap, but the guitar stays in tune so there is really nothing to complain about. I wish this guitar had a heavier bridge and I really don't like how the intonation adjustments rubs/cuts my hands when I palm mute. Both tuners and bridge can be changed without much work or cost so I do not see it as a problem.

This review of the Harley Benton SC Jr will be a comparison to my Gibson and I give you my honest opinion on what I found to be the major differences.

Quality: I do not find the huge differences in the wood and build of the guitars. The harley Benton has better access to the higher frets because of it's angeled neckjoint. The Gibson has got higher quality on the electrics and hardware, but all of that is easy to change and upgrade.

Playability: The Gibson got a satin nitro finish while the Harley Benton has got high gloss polyurethane. I prefer satin necks so I just rubbed the HB neck with a scrub sponge and suddenly I find them quite similar to play. The HB is slightly ligher than the Gibson, but there is not much difference. I have to say that I really can't put one in front of the other when it comes to playability so I will call it a tie.

Sound: This is where I think you can find the biggest differences between the 2. The Gibson has a warmer tone. Gibson also have more note separation and a clearer sound when strummed. The Harley Benton sounds a bit sharper and tend to sound a bit messy when strummed. All of this has got to do with electrics of the guitar, so it's easy to upgrade and improve.


To wrap it up I will say that the Harley Benton SC Junior is an amazing guitar for the money. I also think it's a great guitar to upgrade and improve. The fact that it's got 1 pickup also makes it easier if you are a beginner on upgrading electrics.

I will really recommend this guitar to everyone who consider a one pickup single cut. I would buy again for sure, and to be honest I consider buying the Harley Benton DC Junior as well.

Update after starting upgrades of the guitar electrics:
After playing this guitar for lots of hours I decided that this is a really good platform for upgrading. I just want to tell that during this process I found that the pots must have been switched. The B pot was for volume and the A pot for tone. I have never heard of any guitar who got wired this way before, and I hope it is just a mistake happened during production.

I swapped the pots for CTS 500K and decided to put an alnico 2 p90 pickup in it. The tone got warmer and less agressive, something that fits my playing well. I also wired it like the 50's Les Paul Jr, and now I suddenly have my dream guitar.

Color under warm lamp light as in the stock photo, in daylight, the sunburst center is yellow-green.
The painting was done perfectly, the sunburst was applied carefully, the hand didn’t flinch anywhere, it was well polished.
Smudges, orange peels are not found.
Great weight, 2.9 kg is just a fairy tale.
The perfect balance.
Wood, declared as mahogany, I believe, I rummaged in timbral block the dark pink.
Fretboard Amaranth. If this is amaranth, then this is a very good tree, I liked it. Excellent color, after cleaning and coating with oil glistens.
The neck is round thick comfortable, like on the Les Paul 50s. Headstock is a good reinforced volute.
Frets from the box are polished, the ends are rounded.
Since the grinding paste remained on the frets and the fretboard, upon receipt it is necessary for everyone to carry out the standard procedure, polish the frets and clean the fretboard,
in order to get rid of dried plaque.

Let's go further. The timbral block, I see there was an attempt to shield with graphite, not entirely successful, but it was. The cover is shielded with foil.
Potentiometers, per tone "Alpha" at 500k logarithmic. At volume is "NoName" at 500k linear.
They also wanted to shield the “hole” under the pickup, but the brush with graphite had already dried up leaving a couple of strokes, but the tree was clearly visible.
The pickup is in perfect order, good shielded wires. 7.05 kΩ.
Pickguard is good, high-quality, three-layer.
Machine heads Wilkinson Deluxe, suitable, perfectly mow under the 50s of the last century.
 nut one to one graftech as on Gib ...
Input Jack is not plasticine, great grip.
And of course, the bridge, is the weakest point.
But in my opinion, the bridge weight is too light. It takes more time to evaluate its strength and stability,
but for some reason I am inclined to think that it is a pressed powder.
Minimally lowering the strings allows for 1.8mm sixth and 1.5mm first ( 12 frets).

So, the guitar is assembled perfectly. It sounds to me, as it should, a deep round clean and sharp on crunch, perfectly responds to the tone knob.
Playable at 100%.
Blues, punk, rock and roll.
I can recommend it.